


For The Ones We Love

by Walsingham



Category: Spooks | MI-5
Genre: F/M, Series 10 Episode 6 SPOILER
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-16
Updated: 2012-08-16
Packaged: 2017-11-12 06:37:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/487829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Walsingham/pseuds/Walsingham
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is essentially the end of series 10 episode 6 with a slightly more sadistic variation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For The Ones We Love

   She scrambled  through the tall grass, her long skirt threatening to trip her up with every step. Sasha Gavrik was gaining on her with each moment. How could she have known that Ilya would kill his wife when left alone with her? Ruth Evershed had had no choice but to give Ilya the key. Now Sasha, Ilya and Elena's son, was running after her, revenge his only motive.

   Sasha had confronted Harry Pearce, and Ruth had stepped forward, admitting it was her who had given Ilya the key. Anger had glinted in Sasha's eyes, a large piece of glass had suddenly appeared in his hand, and Ruth had immediately turned and run, hoping Sasha would come straight after her and not waste time killing Harry.

   Her stomach twisted in fear. Not for herself, but for Harry.

   The roots and sticks attempting to trip her up as she ran took advantage of this moment of distraction, and she fell, sticks stabbing into her hands as she tried to save herself. Her arms gave way, and her face hit the ground. She heard Sasha come to a stop beside her, and turned her head toward him just as he kicked her in her side, making her roll onto her back. She clutched her ribs, biting her lip to stop herself from crying out. Her breathing came out ragged. She could hear someone calling her name, battering through the bush to try and find her. It was Harry. The voice didn't come any closer, but she knew it was him. She opened her mouth to call to him, to tell him to go back, before Sasha came after him, but Sasha leant down and slapped her.

   "You want to save your beloved Harry, you will stay quiet," he growled in his thick Russian accent. She tasted blood in her mouth, but didn't call out again. Sasha knelt down beside her, and they waited until Harry's calls began to fade again.

   "Why are you doing this, when your own mother would rather you dead than betray her country?" Ruth ventured.

   "Shut up," he said, holding the piece of glass to her throat. She swallowed and felt a bead of blood slip down the side of her neck. Sasha looked behind him, to watch out for anyone. Ruth silently searched the ground with her hands for large rocks or sticks, anything to use for a weapon. Her hand closed around a large rock. She was still for a moment, her eyes never leaving Sasha's face. Just as she went to lift up the rock, Sasha's eyes flickered to her face. With his free hand he eased the rock from her grip, tossed it aside, and drew a dagger from the inside of his jacket. He threw the piece of glass behind him, and rested the sharp blade of the dagger against her neck, where the glass had been before.

   Ruth wasn't scared. Not really. She was more scared of what comes after. She had faced death herself more than once. She escaped it with Adam Carter, in woods similar to what she was in now. She and Adam had been dragged out of the back of a van, then shot at by a man with a crossbow. Only last year, Lucas North turned traitor, kidnapped her to get to Harry, and put her on a drip. She would have overdosed if Harry hadn't come for her before three hours was up.

   The main difference between those times and now, was that Ruth could see a sliver of hope then, but now, she knew that Sasha would kill her before Harry had a chance to get to her.

   Ruth was jolted back to the present by the point of the dagger in her side. Her eyes focused to see Sasha removing his belt with his free hand. Her mind automatically jumped to conclusions, but eased a bit when he stopped there. He leant the dagger against his hip, just long enough to grab her wrists and bind them together with the belt. He picked up the dagger and stood up.

   "Get up!" Sasha said, pulling her up by her hair. Ruth shrieked in pain, unable to help herself. Sasha responded by flicking the dagger across her cheek. She gasped and brought her hands up to the cut, feeling warm blood running through her fingers. Sasha grabbed another handful of hair and pushed her forward.

   "Don't do that again," he hissed, wiping her blood of the blade onto his sleeve as he walked through the woods, Ruth stumbling in front of him.

   After a few minutes, they approached a large tree. At this point, Sasha pushed Ruth hard, releasing his hold on her hair. She tripped  over a root and collapsed against the tree. There were more cuts on her face from where Sasha had repeatedly flicked her with the dagger when she had fallen and cried out as Sasha pulled her up by her hair. He was almost certain that MI-5's Section D were close behind.

   He walked over to Ruth and tucked the dagger under her chin, forcing her to look up.

   "Stand up," he said calmly. Ruth got up carefully, not breaking eye contact and trying not to trip on the tattered hem of her skirt.

   "Try anything, and you will regret it," Sasha said, kneeling down in front of her. He lifted the hem of her skirt and sliced through the fabric and halfway up the length of the skirt with the dagger. He tore away the bottom half of her skirt, revealing Ruth's black stockings. She had lost her shoes earlier. He told her to step back and out of the ring of fabric. She did so. He moved it aside for the moment, and tied the belt around her wrists to a branch above her head, holding her hands up. Using the fabric as a make-shift rope, he wound it around Ruth's stomach and the tree, tying it off securely at the back.

  "Sasha, please," Ruth whispered, watching him. Sasha ignored her. He was searching through her pockets for something, and Ruth caught a glimpse of a gun before Sasha turned away from her, pulling a phone out. A video phone. He pressed a few buttons and nestled it in a branch of a tree so it was facing Ruth. Confidant it wouldn't fall, Sasha went to stand beside her, a sneer on his face.

   "Hello Harry," he bowed at the waist, mocking, "I have no doubt that your people have pulled this up already, but look who I  have with me!" Here, Sasha gestured to Ruth. "Try anything stupid, and I'll take it out on her." The tone of his voice left no doubt that he was serious.

   Further away, Calum was streaming the video  to Harry's phone.

   "Ruth. My Ruth," Harry whispered, watching the phone. He leant against a tree, aware of Erin and Dimitri watching him carefully.

   "Hey, Harry," he heard Sasha's Russian accent flow out of his phone's speaker. "Watch this."

   "Harry! I got a location from the video. Sasha is hardly ten minutes' walk North from here!" Calum called, stepping out of the van, but Harry wasn't listening. He knew what Sasha was going to do before it happened. Sasha brought his hand back, the dagger glinting in his fist. Suddenly, his hand flew forward and the blade was buried to the handle in Ruth's stomach, through the make-shift rope. Her scream tore into Harry.

   "Calum! Get in the van and meet us there. Harry, go with him. Dimitri, with me," Erin yelled, already running North to the still-screaming Ruth. Harry stumbled into the van, and Calum drove off before Harry had closed his door.

   Back with Sasha, Ruth was screaming and squirming with pain.

   "Shut up," Sasha said, accenting the last word with a twist of the dagger before pulling it out.

   "Sasha," Ruth croaked, her throat raw. In response, he reached up and she felt the dagger bite into her arm, blood dripping onto her face. She pressed her lips together to stop another scream. If she hadn't, she would have missed the snap of a stick underfoot, alerting her to someone approaching through the woods to her left. Unfortunately, Sasha heard as well, and peered into the trees for a minute until Erin stepped out, Dimitri right behind her.

   "Where's-?" Ruth began, before the shine of Sasha's dagger silenced her, but Dimitri knew what she was going to ask.

   "Harry's coming," he replied, not taking his eyes off Sasha. Ruth relaxed, the pain lessening. Erin tried to talk Sasha into moving away from her, but he just keep shaking his head. None of the drew the guns Ruth knew each of them had.

   Slowly, Dimitri began edging towards Sasha's phone, still nestled in the branches of a tree. Sasha moved so he could see Dimitri and Erin. Just as Dimitri pocketed the phone, a van bounced into view between him and Erin. Calum and Harry cautiously got out.

   Ruth let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and the corners of her mouth tugged into a small smile as her eyes met Harry's, where her relief was mirrored.

   "Ah, Harry Pearce." Sasha's voice forced Harry to tear his gaze away and focus on Sasha, who was twirling the dagger in his fingers. Sasha moved to lean beside Ruth against the tree. Ruth's heart thudded in her chest, and she realised she was scared.

   Suddenly, Sasha turned to her and stabbed his dagger into her side. She screamed. She couldn't help it. This new pain brought back the pain in her stomach, arms, legs and face. She heard the crack of a gun, and felt Sasha fall against her as the bullet thudded into his leg. He grabbed onto Ruth to stay up. The branch that held her hands above her head cracked and snapped, narrowly missing Sasha's head as it came down, and blood returned to Ruth's fingers.

   The sudden flow of blood made her black-out briefly. She fell and slipped under the make-shift rope around her and the tree. Dimitri and Calum pushed Sasha off her and Erin rushed to get bandages from the van.

   "Ruth!" Harry cried, running up to her and pulling her gently into his lap. Harry tried to cover most of her wounds with the hand not holding her.

   "Harry, he's g-" Ruth tried to say, but the pain made her stop.

   "Shh, it's okay. I've got you. Don't talk," Harry said, a smile on his face, but sadness in his eyes as he stroked her hair gently. She was safe. She had thought Sasha would kill her before Harry came, but, for some reason, he hadn't. Ruth smiled.

   When two shots rang out, and she saw Dimitri and Calum fall behind Harry, clutching fresh wounds, she knew she should have realised that there wasn't going to be a happy ending for her and Harry.

   Bullets peppered her arm, but somehow missing Harry altogether, before Erin dropped the bandages to grab her gun. There was a bang, and Sasha fell forward and lay unmoving, Erin standing beside him, gun out.

   She picked the bandages up and came to kneel beside Ruth. Dimitri came over and grabbed a bandage, which he put on the bullet wound on his forearm. He grabbed another and gave it to Calum, who used it on his shoulder.

   "Harry, make sure she does not close her eyes for more than a second," Erin said calmly.

   Harry looked at Ruth, and she at him, and no one else mattered.

   "It's funny. Can't breathe," Ruth said as Harry carefully lay her on the ground.

   "No, you're all right, y-you're all right," he replied, trying to convince both himself and her.

   "I'll get the medikit," Diitri said, running off.

   "Cal, get the emedivac," Erin instructed. Turning to Ruth, she said, "Ruth, you've been stabbed, your lung is collapsing. You know that's serious, but it's not going to kill you, understand? Now, we need to keep you responsive so come on, lets get talking."

   "My face i-is cold," Ruth said, her breathing heavy.

   "Let me," Erin said.

   "I've got it," Harry said, pushing her aside slightly.

   "Harry, she said that her face is cold," Erin said pointedly. They knew it wasn't a good sign. Harry leant over Ruth and pushed her hair back so he could place a hand on her forehead

   "Is that better?" he asked.

   "Y-yes. Th-thank you," Ruth replied.

   "Tell me about your house Ruth, the one you're going to buy, by the seaside. Describe it to me."

   "Alright. It's got a green front door, paint peeling. W-woman said I'd want to change it, but I love it."

   "Twelve minutes for the helicopter," Calum called, flipping his phone shut. Harry gave Erin a fleeting but desperate look.

   "And inside. Tell me about the inside. How many bedrooms has it got?" Harry asked, wanting Ruth to keep talking.

   "Two. One's only small though. Thought it could be your office," Ruth said.

   "My office," Harry said, a bit thrown by this idea.

   "Told you I couldn't picture myself living there, but really, I couldn't picture myself living there without you," she said, her breathing slow.

   "Then, we are going to live there, Ruth. Do you hear me? We're going to live there together. We're going to have our home, and a life," Harry said. Glancing back at Dimitri, who was running back with the medikit, he yelled "Come on!"

   "Harry," Ruth said, making him look back down at her, her eyes closed, "we were never meant to have those things."

   There was a pause, before Erin shouted, "she's arresting!"

   "Come on!" Harry cried as Dimitri knelt beside Ruth's head.

   "There's no defib, it'll have to be adrenalin," he said, quickly prepping a needle.

   "Her heart's stopped. You need to go right now," Erin told him.

   "Quick," Harry whispered as Dimitri stabbed in the needle, just beneath Ruth's collarbone, right above her heart. Once the needle was empty, Dimitri tossed it aside and sat back. Ruth still didn't move.

   Then Harry started to cry. Making sure not to touch Ruth with a bloodied hand, he bent down and kissed her.

   "Let's leave them be," Calum said, helping Erin up. Dimitri walked away with them, holding Erin's hand.

   Harry stayed there for what felt like hours, crying over the body of the one woman he had truly loved.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> Kudos + concrit always welcome!  
> xxx


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